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Passionate Sage: The Character and Legacy of John Adams
| Our Price |
$ 37.35
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| Retail Value |
$ 45.00 |
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$ 7.65 (17%) |
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| Item Number |
2426474 |
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Item Description...
Product Description
A look at the life and work of the second U.S. president discusses Adams's mind and personality, the events that shaped his thinking, his perspective on America's prospects, and his famous disagreements.
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Item Specifications...
Pages 284
Dimensions: Length: 8.3" Width: 5.9" Height: 1.1"
Weight: 1.05 lbs.
Binding Hardcover
Release Date May 1, 1993
ISBN 0393034798
EAN 9780393034790
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Availability 100 units.
Availability accurate as of May 30, 2012 04:03.
Usually ships within one to two business days from La Vergne, TN.
Orders shipping to an address other than a confirmed Credit Card / Paypal Billing address may incur and additional processing delay.
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Reviews - What do our customers think?
 | McCullough's Poor Cousin Jan 7, 2010 |
| Despite some controversy regarding Ellis's plagiarism from other sources for this book, I love it. I feel the the much more popular McCullough view of Adams is also excellent but would encourage people to t read this book because for me it presented the mind of John Adams much more clearly. I prefer it, despite the protests of my friends and colleagues who do not see what I see in this book, a gem. | | |  | Passionate Sage:John Adams Mar 13, 2009 |
Not exactly what I was looking for. I wanted a more chronological
biographical story. This author did a great job with George Washington
from beginning to end. In John Adams he skips around through different
phases of his life. Very in depth and sometimes complicated on his description
of Adams. I'm still reading but it is a hard book to understand for a novice reader like myself, even though I am a true American history fan | | | | A Man For Our Times Jan 27, 2009 |
Little would John Adams know that the 2000's would see the re-birth of the Adams legacy. First, there was the David McCullough book chronicling his life, and then the HBO award winning series taken from that book. There has been a continuing push to get an Adams memorial on the Mall in Washington. All this would have made John Adams immensely satisfied, because as he died he correctly predicted that Thomas Jefferson's conception of America would live on, and his would be relegated to the backwaters of history. But in the 200 years since Adams lived and wrote, America does not find itself in the liberal paradise that Mr. Jefferson imagined, nor does it find itself the financial-industrial-military state that Hamilton envisioned, because as I write this review, that state is in ruins. Adams and his writings remain as brilliant cautionary warnings about ideology, untrammeled patriotism, religious fervor and unbridled greed. Basically, the credo that most Americans took for granted, has broken down. Ellis does not follow a straight narrative in his book, but instead focuses on Adams as he leaves the Presidency as the Revolution of 1800 beckons.
His writings in the period after the presidency strike the reader as lacking any kind of ideology, but rather concentrate on the way things are. Even as a young man, Adams had the notable, albeit impolitic, way of speaking the truth no matter whom the audience was. On religion: "After listening to an argument in behalf of the divinity of Jesus Christ that concluded with the unknowability of it all, Adams jotted down his own conclusion: `Thus Mystery is made a convenient Cover for absurdity.' On his chosen profession: "the chief problem with the lawyer was that `he often forments more quarrels then he composes, and inriches himself at the expense of impoverishing others more honest than himself." While these polemics can be explained as an angry young man (he wrote them in the 1750's) they still are important, because none of the others founders spoke like this.
But as the Revolution came and went, and his Presidency, Adams again railed against ideologues from Europe saying that: "Equality is one of those equivocal words which the philosophy of the 18th Century has made fraudulent...in the last twenty five years it has cheated millions out of their lives and tens of millions out of their property." Adams, unlike most current Presidents who constantly quote God as `on our side', never thought that America was a chosen nation: "There is no special providence..we must and we shall go the way of all earth."
Not exactly, the kinds of words that you would expect to hear at a 4th of July celebration. But just because Adams was a cynic does not mean that he didn't appreciate the validity of the cause of American independence. His main line of thinking saw the Revolution as a necessary evil, and did everything in his power as ambassador and as President to preserve it, so the Spirit of 1776 would not devolve into the flames of a counterrevolution or a Reign of Terror. I for one, am glad that America is rediscovering the Adams legacy of public service coupled with a healthy dose of pragmatism. We should do well to remember this as a new decade and a new Presidency begins.
| | | | Excellent Bio of John Adams Mar 24, 2008 |
| Ellis' biography of John Adams, one of the earliest published portraits of the Founding Fathers by the author, is well suited for those who want a shorter, crisper account than the longer ones produced by other biographers (e.g., McCullough). Though it does not include some important material unearthed since its appearance, it honors Adams' essential brilliance and his determinative role in both the success of the American Revolution and the country's endurance while a Federalist president. | | |  | A fine book May 9, 2007 |
Ellis again does an excellent job of making public figures who are seemingly lost to history real again. While not as flowery and readable as McCullough's work, I believe Ellis' effort to be more substantive. Following only Adams' post-presidency years, Ellis explores Adams' core political principles and beliefs through the struggles and battles of his sunset years.
Through Adams' fight with long-time friend Mercy Otis Warren over his legacy, to his arguments with Mary Wollstonecraft in the margins of her own books, Ellis is able to show an aging John Adams at his best (or worst): outspoken, irreverent, fiesty, and more often than not, correct. The reader is led through Adams' opinions on government, law, the French Revolution, and more. The curious reader would do well to compare Adams' and Jefferson's opinions of the French revolutionaries, keeping "track of score."
I only wish that Ellis could have written more. This book, while dry at times, will hold the reader's attention and leave them wanting more chapters.
Recommended to the general reader who has already read through a full-length Adams biography. | | | Write your own review about Passionate Sage: The Character and Legacy of John Adams
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